Tag: Animation

During that pressure period in the art making process, I was analysing our relationship with device engagement or life support machines as I refer to them. Observations in urban environments, city streets, cafes, public transport, restaurants, etc. It’s amazing what you can see when watching with purpose. It got me thinking about fragmenting form as a way to communicate distraction of a mental state. Again, more experiments, more reshuffling and rethinking though at least the project was moving again.

The fragmentations later become much more intensified when layering the rotoscope work. By doing so, I felt this captured distraction and disruption which was the objective.

For the audio, after consideration, a voice-over was vetoed in favour of a soundscape which sounded much more exciting to compose. For diversity, the collected material was recorded when traveling from Tokyo to London. As with the rotoscoped work, the sound bites were also layered. Automated and notification sounds predominate the arranged soundscape, fading in and out, some played simultaneously. The end result being a cacophony and chaotic assemblage triggering a sensory intrusion.

I feel now that this is a resolved body of work. I’ll read an extract from Art & Fear: Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking, which for me sums up this whole exploration and artmaking process:

‘But if asked to describe how it felt during the artmaking process-well that often comes out a bit like Dorothy trying to describe the Land of Oz to Auntie Em. Between the initial idea and the finished piece lies a gulf we can see across, but never fully charter. The truly special moments when concept is converted to reality- those moments when the gulf is being crossed. Precise descriptions fail, but it connects to that wonderful condition in which the work seems to make itself and the artist serves only as a guide or mediator, allowing all things to happen’

Here, I’ve been experimenting with Adobe After Effects using a follow-friendly tutorial on animated pop circles and simulating electricity. After following the tutorials to the tee, below are the end results:

Pop Circles (tutorial)

Electric Effect (tutorial)

The animated pop circles reminded me of similarities in Norman McLaren ‘s work such as Dots (1940) and Synchromy (1971). Using the tutorials as a template, I began modifying the animations. Theatrically merging alternative shapes, opting for pop-art colors, fading in and out. Adjusting key frame times for smoother or rapid movements. It’s interesting how the amount of negative space makes such an impact visually in both animations. For sound (Pop shapes), I experimented with water drips. From freesound.org, I found the following:

Inside an abandoned lead mine: A stereo field-recording of water dripping on to standing water in a partially flooded mine.Sony PCM-M10. In Audacity, I amplified then used delayed and phaser effects. Overall, this sound makes a big impact to the visuals, darkening the mood.

I haven’t been writing about my practice for a while now. It’s not that I’m procrastinating or anything, far from it, it’s just that I don’t want to bore myself with the project. It’s easy to do that when you’re working on one thing and you’re in your own little world most of the time. You know what I mean? I’m at that stage where I’ve just completed all the drawings and I’m trying to plan the following: script a narration, edit the sequences and the create the audio. On top of that, after adding all the aforementioned technicalities, I hope to stimulate awareness, create fear and persuade all at the same time. What a challenge! Had I not decided to take a year out, the situation would be erm…well, just get something framed for the graduate exhibition and reflect on what might have been. I hope that will not be the case.

To get a second opinion on things, recently, I went to see a friend who is currently working on a documentary based on an incident in World War II in Tokyo. His previous project was Lessons from the Night (2009) . It was a well-spent two hours. His comments and challenging questions were of great benefit for me. As a result, I felt much more inspired. It’s important to hear others’ views. When showing your work, the audience is viewing an unfamiliar journey, a journey that is all too familiar for yourself. He was able to ‘‘see’ what is difficult for me to ‘see’. As his film making expertise is predominantly in editing footage, I got a few useful pointers. In his opinion, areas of the animation seemed flat. The viewing dynamic could be tweaked. Using Adobe Premier, I could consider panning the visuals or homing into areas for effect. All considerations taken on board

SEQUENCE 11

In earlier sequences, to increase movement within sequences that I considered too static, I added pattern to the hair. Something child-like that could work with the narrative. The pattern creates a bubbly effect as a consequence. I feel it doesn’t interfere and detract the sequence too much and comments have been generally positive.(famous last words!)

Don’t Have Nightmares was an unfinished project back in March, 2015. An installation was to be incorporated but due to complications, I abandon the idea. Also, the audio was never added as the animation remained unfinished. It was a pity, as Jonny (sound engineer) had worked hard on the audio. So, rather than just abandon the project, I found myself being more proactive over the festive period. I continued working on the animation. First, adding motion tweens, then a few stills, then cyan tones and finally the icing on the cake-the audio. Done!

My inspiration came from the books I’m currently reading and the public information film project I’m currently working on. The idea of using the animation (Don’t Have Nightmares) for a public information project was considered back in June/July last year. The books, The Internet is not the Answer by Andrew Keen and The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains, inspired me to use the animation to interpret the argument that privacy is becoming obsolete. The voyeuristic iconic shower sequence in Psycho where the viewer is allowed to secretly peer in at the subject is akin to the way social media platforms are set up. Facebook being the obvious example. That’s not to say we only use social media for a spying purpose, but there is the temptation to do so. Interestingly, Andrew Keen references another Hitchcock film, Rear Window. In his book, he states that Hitchcock’s narrative parallels Google’s dominance in the digital age. I considered a new working title ‘Are Friends Celebrities?’ However, I ditched the idea to avoid any referencing confusion on my blog. Overall, I’m pleased with the end result and thankfully so is the sound engineer.

Audio information from an earlier post (March 2015):

The original audio was severely revamped. Stock sound fx downloaded and manipulated in pitch or speed. Analogue synthesizer used for simple “heartbeat” pulse. Reverb plug ins used to simulate tiled bathroom ambience. Delay with lfo sweep used to emulate water going down a plughole, swirling psycho effect. Overall, I was very pleased with Jonny’s work. However, the screams were still too prominent for me so I decided to make amendments in Audacity. I reduced the scream amplification and added much more ‘delay’ effects on screams

My last project (Don’t Have Nightmares 0.2: The Tokyo Underground) was to be shown earlier this month to my peers. However, and unfortunately, due to time limitations, the project didn’t get a critique (gutted!).

Final Reflections: To be honest, I don’t think it’s an accurate representation of the project, the main aim was to capture the fear in confined spaces on the Underground but filming was so problematic at times, I ditched a lot of footage. In hindsight, I should have documented more of the downs as opposed to ups on my blog. However, I’m pleased with the animation. I had little idea as to the end result. That’s the beauty of working with the medium. Tales of the Unexpected!

Sound: I’ve done quite a bit of experimenting with the audio, using train ambient, crackling fire wood and buzzing insects in Audacity. Not great results due to my technical ability but I’ve assembled the audio to how I would like it.

Over the past few months I’ve been working on an animated film I made in Tokyo which examines conformity and a fear which I felt when living abroad for the first time, alienation. The film footage is shot on an over ground train carriage in the Tokyo. Panning 180 degrees, right to left conveys an arc of life. The pan is a comment on emotions and anxieties endured by myself over a period of time.

Alienation & Conformity Test 1

Alienation & Conformity Test 2

However, after a few tests, I felt to comprehensively project this concept, I decided to continue the sequence and pan an extra 180 degrees, the pan returning to the starting point.

Also, I’m experimenting with the relationship between live action and animation which I’m pursuing more and more in my work recently simply because I find the relationship visually engaging. Frames 94 & 146

The silhouetted passengers all matching with similar characteristics and behaviour. A feeling of trepidation, being watched, analysed scrutinized. Time, like the pan, moves jerkily along until the passengers become clearly visible, the tension diminishes, the atmosphere less threatening. Frames 225 & 305

To capture more atmosphere and mood, each frame has been rendered and textured. When projected continuously, the moving image radiates an assortment of dynamic characteristics. I had been researching artists that primarily employ composites in their work and how dramatically the visual alters as a result.

Frames 20, 90, 184 & 216

I’ve not quite completed the rendering and texturing though hope to premiere the animation on Tuesday. The audio will be completed later this year.

The American actress, Janet Leigh was born in 1927 and died in 2004 at the age of 77. My last project, Don’t Have Nightmares 0.1, involved taking a segment of icon cinematic footage from the film Psycho and animating approximately 28-seconds. In order to get a realistic likeness of Janet Leigh, enlarging the film resolution enabled me to analyse information such as light and shadow on her face, body and hair with greater visibility and more clarity. However, I still needed still images and other footage of the actress as it was difficult to animate blurry footage due to the shower water. By using digital technology, I could scan a person who was 32 years old at the time and manipulate her image with some moderate success. It was the first time I had employed digital necromancy in an art project. It got me thinking, with more advanced software tools, a technically skilled team of animators, time and of course consent from the Leigh family or whoever holds her image rights, Janet Leigh could continue to star in films 10 years after her death. It seems that resurrecting dead screen stars is becoming more prevalent in cinema/television these days. A few weeks ago I came across an engaging article in The Guardian (below) by Hannah Ellis-Petersen. I’ve read quite a few articles like this over the past year. It makes you wonder, with all the increasing digital technology, will using human actors for films just become some antiquated, archaic concept?

The Guardian, Saturday, 11th April 2015

Bruce Lee, Audrey Hepburn and the ethics of digital necromancy

by Hannah Ellis-Petersen

Recent figures show posthumous earnings by celebrities from their likeness now exceeds £1bn, with some selling image rights before deathIn Arthur C Clarke’s July 20, 2019: Life in the 21st Century, his 1986 novel speculating what a day in the 21st century might look like, Clarke envisions a cinema listing of the future.“Still Gone with the Wind: The sequel picks up several years after where the 80-year-old original left off, with Rhett and Scarlett reuniting in their middle age, in 1880. Features the original cast (Clark Gable, Olivia de Havilland, and Vivien Leigh) and studio sets resurrected by computer graphic synthesis. Still Gone sets out to prove that they do make ‘em like they used to.”Clarke’s book was pure science fiction, but almost 30 years later his predictions have proved prescient. Death, once the finite end to a celebrity career, is now only a marker for the next stage, and digitally resurrected celebrities – be they Paul Walker or Audrey Hepburn – are now posthumously making their way back onto our screens.

But such digital necromancy is raising concerns. It was announced at the end of March that plans are in the works to digitally insert Bruce Lee, 42 years after his death, into Ip Man 3, the third film in a series about his former teacher. It’s not the first time computer graphics (CG) technology have been used to bring the martial arts star back to life on screen – his digitally reanimated figure recently starred in an advert for Johnnie Walker Blue whisky. However, the Bruce Lee estate is now seeking legal action to prevent his CG likeness appearing in the film, with their lawyer stating the family are “justifiably shocked” at the idea.It is perhaps to stop such situations that Robin Williams, it was revealed last week, signed a deed to prevent his image, or any likeness of him, being used at least 25 years after his death. It restricts any posthumous exploitation of the actor, be it through the use of CG to digitally resurrect him in Mrs Doubtfire 2 or as a live hologram performing comedy on stage – something that the advancement of technology has made an increasingly likely occurrence.Indeed, recent figures have shown that the posthumous earnings made by celebrities from their image or likeness alone now exceeds £1bn, with some, such as Muhammad Ali, even selling their image rights before death so they can reap the profits while still alive.While the practice has mainly been restricted to finishing off performances of actors who died midway through filming – such as Paul Walker in Fast and Furious 7 – it has also been utilized by advertisers, keen to attach famous faces to their brands. Most notable is the recent reanimation of Audrey Hepburn in an advert for Galaxy chocolate.Mike McGee, the co-founder and creative director of Framestore, the special effects studio who won an Oscar for Gravity, was in the team responsible for the Audrey Hepburn reanimation and said it still required “vast” amounts of work to make the replicas appear alive. However, he predicted the phenomenon of reviving dead celebrities was only just beginning.It took Framestore four months of work to create the lifelike Audrey Hepburn, for just 60 seconds of advert, and managed it by using a combination of old photographs and a body double to build an accurate CG digital form of everything from her skin to her eyelashes – even going on location to get the lifelike light and shadow.“We found that we could create a realistic still image of Hepburn quite quickly but as soon as she has to move, turn her head or open her mouth, that’s when things can start to look uncanny, when things don’t look 100% real,” he said.“The human eye can spot it because we’re so used to looking at our own reflection, so we subconsciously know all those tiny details and it’s that final 5% of realism that takes the most time to achieve. It’s all about getting the moisture in the eyes to look right, getting the eyelids to flutter correctly when someone blinks, the corner of someone’s lips to turn up a little just before they smile, because it’s those subtle signal and movements that make a great performance by any actor. And to ask an animator to copy that onto a computer model and capture a human performance is really challenging.”He added: “I do think this will happen more and more. As the technology develops, I see no reason that in the future we wouldn’t see a CG performance by a dead actor up for a Bafta or an Oscar.”

Satoshi Tomioka was born in Nagoya in Japan in 1972. At graduate school, Tomioka studied hydrodynamics at Tokyo University. He became interested in computer graphics while working part-time for a graphics company. After graduating he worked for Dream Pictures Studios until the studio closed down in 1999. He now works at his own studio Kanaban Graphics which received success for the series Usavich, a series of animated short films for MTV’s Japanese mobile service ‘Flux’.

Sink (1999) was Tomioka’s first film which is based on his own experiences commuting on the Tokyo underground. In the film, Tomioka depicts his subjects (businessmen) in an underwater world. Poking fun at them as they ogle at pornographic imagery. Tomioka’s imagery of the Tokyo metropolis is an extremely vivid and colourful one. Toy-like trains glide through illuminated tunnels. There are some captivating angles taken from inside the train. For example, at 0.54 the scene features the intensity of a packed commuter train so packed, train seats are not evident. Another angle focuses on views of the surrounding cityscape, skyscrapers bearing down on the inhabitants and the ubiquitous advertising hoardings completely mapping vertical structures. Sink portrays aspects typical of Japanese social realism in the 90s. Tomioka’s interpretation of Tokyo commuters is played with tongue and cheek; a society dictated and ruled by businessmen with sexually repressive characteristics living a monotonous existence. Having researched on Tomioka, there are suggestions that the shy and reclusive filmmaker is depicting himself in this manner. There are aspects of the animation I can clearly identify with and I would imagine my project will feature similar viewpoints of Japanese society.

Recently I have been looking at the work of Jeff Scher. He is an animator, underground film-maker and painter based in New York. As a rotoscope film-maker, he has a very individual approach. Since 1980 Scher has made 33 films. Most of his films are abstract experiments lasting approximately two and half minutes long. His last film to date, For All The Wrong Reasons, was made in 2008. For the past seven years he has been an instructor at NYU Tisch School of Arts Kanbar Institute of Film & Television’s Animation program.

His films are mainly non-narrative, experimental and combined with music. His intentions are for the viewer to create their own stories from his visuals. His methodology is quite unusual and has been described as animated still life. He often uses paintings and collages by overlapping the colours and textures. When film making, he employs the rotoscope technique though not in a traditional manner. Rather than using up-to-date software to speed up the frame drawing process, Scher still uses vintage machinery to enrich each image as to affect the mind senses. Just in the same way a film maker might use Super 8 film as opposed to digital film. The traced images are then separately shot as a single frame. As Steve Fore noted in his essay Romancing the Rotoscope: Self-Reflexivity and the Reality Effect in the Animations of Jeff Scher (2007), when critically analyzing Reasons to be Glad (1980), Milk of Amnesia (1992) and Garden of Regrets (1994). Scher renders each individual scene initially as a series of small gouache paintings, sometimes layered over cut-out text and advertising images from magazines, newspapers, and consumer product packaging. His colour palette is varied, but it skews toward vivid, intense colours. Similarly, while most scenes, and individual drawings within scenes, are sufficiently detailed to provide a fairly detailed suggestion of facial features, background details, the movement of clothing, etc., some scenes (and individual frames within otherwise more detailed scenes) are little more than single-colour sketches of movement and figures against a white background.)

For material to rotoscope, Scher uses a variety of live action cinematic sources including Hitchcock films, experimental films, televised sporting events, educational and documentary footage and home movies. After analyzing a few of his films, I began to notice his individual technique in greater detail. For example, in Reasons to be Glad (1980), the entire three minutes, 15 seconds is a pulsating array of fragmented human action footage such as a women smoking, two lovers kissing, a man walking a dog, dancers etc mixed with cinematic footage from Film noir or gangster films. The imagery is frantic, morphing from one scene to another. Also, it was noted that through varying the colours and drawings,still images filmed in rapid succession appeared to move as though animated. I feel very inspired by his work and it has made me consider my approach when rotoscoping.

Joseph Pierce’s ‘The Pub’ (2012) is a rotoscoped animation which focuses on a day in the life of a barmaid who works in a gloomy pub in North London. The animation was inspired by Pierce’s time living above a pub in Camden. The narrative flows from barmaid to the various assortment of characters that surround her. Pierce uses his distinctive figurative style (Family Portrait, Stand-up) by exaggerating their suppressed emotions and social awkwardness. He exposes their features by morphing from a physical representation into sinister and sometimes crude forms. The barmaid gives off that British stiff upper lip culture and seems unfazed in the face of adversity. Elements which are indicative of films by Mike Leigh and Ken Loach in their portrayals of British social realism.

Over the past few weekends, I’ve been experimenting with animating water. Before I began this project I didn’t really consider animating water in much detail. Before I began, I checked my preparatory notes. A brief summary below:

No mention of water, so for a few ideas and tips, I began looking at a few animated watery effects and tutorials on YouTube. First, I used the paintbrush tool as I can rotoscope fairly fast with it. I achieved some interesting slushy watery effects. However, I couldn’t find an appropriate sound bite to match the visuals. I even considered omitting animating the water altogether. Therefore, I would put more emphasis on sound to convey water. I decided to leave everything alone for a few days, think with a clear mind…another day.

Back to the drawing board the following weekend with a new plan of attack. My next approach was to listen through some sound bites. Why have a watery sound? Why not whistling kettle, a hissing cat or finger scratching a chalk board? I came across some electric drills and circular saw sound bites. I got mental images of strobes, neon lighting and sparks from a welding tool. I began to practice with more tools in the Flash software until I found a tool which enabled to produce a strobe, sparky effect. After viewing and considering the sound, still I wasn’t satisfied with the overall treatment. The animation appeared TOO mechanical. So, I decided to add splashes (that look like sparks!) using the paintbrush.

STEP 1: After finally deciding that I would choose the shower scene from Alfred Hitchcock’s film Psycho (1960), I scanned various sites to find a HD version of the footage. A HD version helps me during the rotoscoping process as I can map the outlines of the form with more speed and less difficulty. At this stage, I don’t get bogged down with having to improvise objects and movement. From experience, that part of rotoscoping can really slow down the process and the outcome might not be the desired result. On the other hand, improvisations can create unintentional digital masterpieces! Considerations. Below is an audio version of the Psycho shower scene. Time: 2 minutes, 36 seconds

STEP 2: I will be animating at 1 second per 12 frames so my next aim is to edit the footage down to around 1 minute 20 seconds (960 drawings approx. ). I’ve not done very much in the way of film editing since my university days. It will be interesting to see if I can still maintain the impact of the scene though it’s not a pre-requisite. From analysing the footage, I note framing composition, visually very clear and the manner in which the tension builds; subtle edits from animate objects (woman) to inanimate objects (the shower head). The tension manifests in a series of close-ups and montage. I keep track of times, shots and areas in which I could exploit, distort, exaggerate during the post-edit phase. Time: 1 minute, 29 seconds

Sound
My Graphics B.A. (Hons) program at the The University of the West of England offered modular courses in Year 1 and 2. The modules are designed to develop the student in areas which would be beneficial in their self-directed project in Year 3. As I had a project in mind involving film and animation for Year 3, it was necessary for me to become accustomed to working with sound. The sound modules enabled me to experiment creatively and explore different possibilities. The more I experimented, the more ideas were generated. A Play Without Words: The Suicide was a sound module project in Year 1. The project had to be under 1 minute in duration, voices could be recorded though not in dialogue form. The process of the assignment made me consider the following questions: How is the suicide committed? Which sounds/ sound bites will be used bites? How much time is needed recording outdoor ambience’s? Which sound effects should I employ? In which order will I use the sounds? At which points should the audio levels be high/low? Do I want the listener to understand what is happening? Will my concepts be too abstract or pretentious? The process allowed me to be creative, original and audacious. I could learn how sounds worked together. Also, there were times when I created new sounds accidentally. Smooth transitions from one sound to another were very challenging and often frustrating. Too much going on at once would end up as a cacophony of disorder. By the end of the first sound module I had taken a lot of notes which helped me reflect on how I worked through the process. The experience gained from the modules and my reflective diary became invaluable to me when working on a rotoscope project in Year 3.

Rotoscoping
Rotoscoping involves the process of drawing on film. A lot of early Disney films were rotoscoped and more recent examples can be seen in Richard Linklater’s work. He employed the rotoscoping technique in films such as Waking Life (2001) and A Scanner Darkly (2006).

The first time I used this technique was when making a short film called The Duellists in my final year at university. The process- Initially, I shot about 9 minutes of footage on Super 8 film then transferred the 8mm film onto a camcorder. After editing ,the film was about 4 minutes long. To animate, my portable 14″ TV was placed face up on the carpet while I positioned myself over the TV with pen and paper. An animator’s peg bar was cello taped to one side of the screen to ensure that the paper would always be placed in exactly the same position. I drew about 3 frames every second. As you can see it’s VERY jerky! I can still vividly remember the laborious process of clicking the VHS frame counter every time I drew a frame. By the end of the week the VHS player was seriously damaged the and tape was just one big glitch. At the time I never contemplated making the sequel for sanity reasons! All in all, it took around 700 drawings before being shot under an old EOS stop frame camera. The sound score is mainly Morricone, though I used soundbites from other well-known films. Looking back at this animation 18 years on, the work employs the same principles as DIY punk ethics. Basically, a heap of shoddy charcoal drawings awkwardly mashed together. The result being a confusing manic montage. After editing the rotoscoped version, it was whittled down to 2:32 seconds in duration. I still have the Super 8 footage-for a future project, I intend to make a digital version of The Duellists.